


What Dreams May Come

by quiet__tiger



Category: The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Iron Man 3 Spoilers, M/M, it was all a dream
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-31
Updated: 2013-05-31
Packaged: 2017-12-13 12:00:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,182
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/824077
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quiet__tiger/pseuds/quiet__tiger
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony tells Steve about an awful dream he had.</p>
            </blockquote>





	What Dreams May Come

**Author's Note:**

> MASSIVE SPOILERS for Iron Man 3.
> 
> I found Iron Man 3 extremely underwhelming, and this is Tony expressing some of my problems with it.

Tony woke struggling to breathe, hand slamming against his chest to feel for the arc reactor. Feeling its smooth edges and surface, he relaxed. Sort of. He lay there trying to catch his breath as Steve mumbled from next to him, “You okay?”

What did it say about a relationship when nightmares were commonplace enough that they barely caused a reaction from one’s partner?

“Yeah, I just…” Tony pressed the heel of his hand to his forehead, his elbow bumping into Steve’s shoulder. “I had a really disturbing dream.”

“The portal again?” Fuck that space portal to hell.

“No. Something… personal.”

Finally Steve turned his head to look at him, eyes squinting from sleep and the reactor’s light. “Like how?”

“There was the portal, yeah, but it and my PTSD were only a side story to the rest of it.”

“Tell me.”

As he started talking, Tony turned onto his side, propped up on his elbow. “For starters I was back in Malibu, and dating Pepper. Until she threatened to leave, anyway. And while in another life I’d be in Malibu with Pepper, well, Loki and the Chitauri and the Avengers changed all that. Pepper belongs in Malibu with Stark Industries, and I belong in New York with my tower and my team. Why would I build my beautiful tower—no commentary from you—and then just leave it?”

“Maybe there was work you needed to do?”

“Nothing that couldn’t be transferred to here. I mean, I had trashed my house building the particle accelerator to stop the palladium poisoning, so easier to just stay in the tower anyway. Shiny new labs, Bruce one floor and reinforced walls down… Natasha hiding knives, Thor eating my food, Clint in my vents, you in my bed, Coulson and Fury poking around… Well, the latter I can certainly live without, but the first bunch… You know.”

“What else happened?”

“It’s the damnedest thing. There was the Mandarin, but he wasn’t really the Mandarin, you know how in dreams you know someone is someone but it isn’t really them. He was some hokey actor being controlled by some scientist I pissed off who decided to use his powers to hurt people.”

“You made him angry so he attacked other people?”

“Or something, I don’t know. If everyone I shafted and ignored in my life became a supervillain, we’d have a hell of a bigger problem on our hands than whatever idiot freak oozes out of the woodwork for some attention. But anyway, he, like, gave other people super powers. And Pepper at one point had powers, but then I got her surgery to take them away.”

“Uh huh.”

“Or something. But anyway, so I gave the fake Mandarin my home address, because I’m apparently an idiot in this dream, and for some reason am surprised when he attacks and destroys my house. The workshop, too. Dummy and the other bots wound up on the bottom of the ocean, and how awful is that?”

“Sounds terrible.”

“They deserve better. So then I was on the run, and wound up needing the help of some kid who was really into engineering—did I mention I didn’t have JARVIS? I had a heavy-ass suit to drag around, no resources except my brilliance, and had to dress like a redneck to fit in. Why I wouldn’t just call one of you on a secure line, I don’t know. And it’s nice to know that my subconscious agrees that Fury doesn’t give a fuck about me. I get attacked and no SHIELD in sight.”

“So a kid helped you with the suit?”

“I said it was a crazy dream, right? So anyway, at the end me and Rhodey are fighting this evil scientist guy on an oil rig, and there’s all these new suits I made, all these different specialties.”

“So even in your dream you were obsessed with escalation.”

“Preparation. Because we don’t know what else is out there. It doesn’t hurt to try to plan ahead, even if you don’t know what’s coming. But yeah, Pepper was mad I spent so much time working on all the different suits, and she didn’t even know about them all.”

“I know the feeling.” Steve leaned over to press a kiss to Tony’s temple. “And while we all appreciate the efforts, and you’ve made some amazing suits, there’s only so much one man can do.” Which was the problem, and the reason for his obsession, and it was a very old argument.

“So anyway, there’s all this fighting, and it’s very exciting, and then I just decide—for Pepper—to destroy all my suits. Poof, gone, pretty fireworks and then that’s it.”

The adorable wrinkle creasing Steve’s forehead made warm feelings flow throughout Tony. “But you must’ve worked hard on all of that.”

“Likely.”

“And you destroyed it all? I can’t imagine—that’s basically your life’s work. And she made you destroy it?”

“It was my idea, but basically, yes.”

“That’s… that’s sad.” And he looked so _earnest_ as he said it, making Tony’s heart clench again.

“And then some wish fulfillment for myself, in that I had surgeons remove the shrapnel from my heart, so I don’t need the arc reactor anymore.”

“If that were possible, wouldn’t you have done it already?”

“Iron Man needed the reactor. …and as much as having this thing in me sucks, it’s done some good, too.”

“Loki.”

“Not to mention the huge hole in my chest that would need to be fixed. If I’m going to have to restructure my sternum and ribs, might as well have a battery there, too. But if I could remove the shrapnel and keep the reactor, maybe.”

“It would just be strange for you to not have this defining part of you.” Steve’s eyes dropped to Tony’s chest.

“Like Thor not having Mjolnir, I know.”

Thinking over the dream again, Tony grinned. “Forgot the best part—Rhodey’s suit got a new paint job. Looked just like your costume, down to the star and everything. I guess even in my subconscious I needed part of you with me. Yet I didn’t even make a joke about him looking like you…”

“You make jokes about both of us all the time.”

“Exactly. That dream-Tony wasn’t me. I may have my flaws—and by ‘may’ I mean ‘absolutely without a doubt’—but I will never turn down the chance to mock you.”

“Thanks.”

“Out of love.”

“Out of something.”

“ _I’m all out of love, I’m so lost without you_ —”

“That’s a sad song. And I’m right here.”

Smirking, Tony answered, “You can help me erase all memories of losing my home, my toys, and the tool keeping me alive.”

“The miracle keeping you alive. Powering your toys, inspiring your creations, forming the basis of this ugly yet impressive tower we all call home and a future of clean energy for humanity.”

Steve leaned in, and as the moments passed into minutes, Tony forgot all about the dream.

Except he really liked that idea for a suit that could travel in separate pieces…


End file.
